Co-Ed Slamm Hockey TV League to debut in January.

[RichardGraham]

Hi Folks,

Keep the commentary within reasonable bounds, please. ;)

[growl89]

so it's like mite hockey where they blow a horn every 2 minutes for a line change? how on earth is this going to work with out stoppage every 90 seconds? otherwise there will be male vs female lines. This makes no sense...

[HEO]

Now I had a blast at the MLRH Euro Cup, but this seems to be taking a step back of what MLRH is actually trying to do. It just seems like its turning into a reality t.v. show. Who knows...maybe it will work. My question is that whats going to happen to the teams who played at Euro Cup. Ive been waiting to hear if the Washington Power are doing anything but so far all quite. Has anybody else who played heard about whats really going on?

[DblJ44]

Considering that the Boston team was mostly guys from Northern NJ and the Chicago team were guys from South Jersey and PA mostly. Im not too sure what the league would have looked like anyway....

[showtime89]

Are they going to change goalies too?

[ARHA]

Are they going to change goalies too?

That would be very interesting.

[alex]

Awesome! Pandering to the lowest common denominator, I love it! There's no way this is being done for the almighty dollar, this will undoubtedly further the sport in the eyes of the public at large. If you thought roller hockey was a joke before, just you wait!

What happened to their attempt to get real roller hockey on TV? What happend to the MLRH in general? And, last question, is this a ****ing joke?

[quick_dry]

so once I tire of the pervy thrills of girls slamming into each other, will it be a case of:

*siren*
watch 90 seconds of guys playing hockey
*siren*
go make a cup of tea for a minute and a half
*siren*
come back in time to watch 90 seconds of hockey
*siren*
flick to some other station
*siren*
back to more hockey
*siren*
ad break

Those girls might be great roller hockey players, but in comparison the play is likely to be much slower, and having it sandwiched between fast play makes it more obvious.

I think the idea of a bell going to signal a changeup is awful.

It encourages the idea of men and women being segregated from each other - I dislike that intensely, I think women should be encouraged to play against guys. their hockey improves leaps and bounds when they're playing in better divisions.

I know it doesn't encourage that old 'battle-of-the-sexes' bitchfest betwee guys and girls, but the normal model of other unisex sports where you have X guys and Y girls on the court at any one time is better e.g. basketball.

Perhaps you could incorporate the equivalent of a 'push-to-pass' in Indy/Champcar racing (or F1 with KERS) and allow an all male line to go out for a limited amount of time, provided it was immediately followed by an all girl line for at least the same amount of time - with a penalty if you go too long on the guy line, or not enough on the girl line.

On the other hand, I'll stay on the soapbox and say in some ways Bill is being a trailblazer in womens rights in sport - or hockey at least. Its about time they got rid of the ridiculous notion that women are delicate little petals who have to wear full-face visors and can't have full-on checking - yet you could happily send a beanpole out on a rink where he could be checked by a 300pound muscle-bound freight train in the corners "because they're men" (insert gruff Tim-the-Toolman noises as appropriate)

I'd rather see proper roller hockey on TV, but any exposure of inline hockey is going to do something good I guess.

[Mlrhnorthfan]

If this was legit i doubt any real televsion network would let Bill create one of his famous self-written PR articles for it.




but hey, you never know.

[NLane]

I'm glad I'm not the sound editor. Miked benches??? Every other sound will be a "beep". If it's not taped there will have to be a 5 second delay to get rid of the non-family words. Seeing this version of hockey may make people want to see the "real" inline games. This version will give all the "show boat danglers" their real stage to perform. Maybe the best performance won't get voted off....then again best as in showing off or scoring. We know how the general public will vote...WWF anyone? Go ahead & laugh. They make money and laugh all the way to the bank! No one said this will be real inline hockey. Don't I remember a basketball program with springboards or trampolines or some such? Didn't last long but it was there. I've always thought that real sports can laugh at themselves. No worse than speedball or outside on a beach.

[njstampede12]

Next thing u know Bill Raue will make a Dek ball hockey pro league on TV.

[rhhof]

Little do people know that Bill actually had a very successful year when he produced the Women's MLRH ( W-MLRH ) it was 1999-2001 and it stretched from NY to FL - they had great teams, good events and a few bench clears!!

Im actually suprised he never publicized it, but did when MLRH AAA started in 01 and tried to keep it going, but like th origianl MLRH it never again reached the level back prior...

Again like most projects it needs the countless volunteers that he never gets to help run things....including individual teams and put forth all the effort - I owned and ran a womens team the one year....by God, it was more work than the MLRH team

Give the man a break - he has a passion for the sport, a supreme love of the game, he's got a delorian and can travel back in time to wipe you out, so be careful...Dr Emmitt Brown is the best and we should rename him DR Bill Raue

[alex]

And what "TV" is this supposedly going to be on? I hear a lot about roller hockey getting on TV in different capacities but its never anything more than being broadcasted online or maybe, just maybe, on a local channel viewed by a few thousand.

Available to up to 60,000 by 2009? BS.
Let's just broadcast it on the internet then we can say it's available to the WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD!*

Having a passion for the game is good, at least people who care about the game are creating gimmick leagues that either, A, never get off the ground and add to the idea that roller hockey is a joke with its 100+ attempted pro leagues and stabs at getting on TV at any cost necessary...or, B, it does get on air and the few hundred people who watch it will collectively laugh at roller hockey and change the channel.

And yeah there's gimmicky versions of other sports and it doesn't damage the reputation of those sports...because they're already well established! This is a gimmick version of a sport many already view as a gimmick. That oughta help the credibility issue.

[5280]

Sounds closer to Roller Derby than Roller Hockey. It may get some viewership as a reality/sports program, a la American Gladiator, but it won't help the sport in any meaningful sense.

No one is going to watch that and decide to have their kid pick it up as a new activity. And, IMHO, that's how you grow the sport.

Gary Alpert
Roller Hockey Dad
Aurora, CO

[pez_hockey18]

i played coed at the euro cup bill ran and had a good time. if this "reality show' is going to work they need women who do not just stand on the defense and pass the puck then stop.

running a line of men then a line a women will for sure bore the watcher. most of us women just are not as fast as the guys. mixing up the lines would be a good thing to consider.

with the right players and personnel maybe it can get the publicity inline hockey needs. it does seem far fetched, and like it could be a complete flop.

[Alvare71]

Honestly what can it hurt.......guys skating in front of twenty people or really 60 million.....

Who knows, I know a few of my old line mates that can pass for a chick....